Getting started with Contenta ARW Converter for Windows

The software is a simple and powerful tool to convert your photos. It is simple to use because of its intuitive interface that gives you control over what you are doing. It is also powerful because you can configure important settings and automate common tasks.

In two sentences, here is how the software works: First, tell which photos you will convert. Then tell how you want them converted. That's all there is to do!

Basic instructions

Photos selection

Select your photos in 3 different ways:

drag and drop them

select a bunch of files using a file picker using the button 'Add one or many photos'

select all photos from a particular directory using the button 'Add Folder'.You can also choose to add recursively all photos contained in the subdirectories.

When you are ready to continue, click on the button 'Next'.

Conversion settings

There is only one mandatory parameter to start converting: choosing the output directory where all your converted images will be saved.

Then, you can choose one of the following output formats: JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG,TIFF, GIF, BMP, PPM, PDF.

Additionally the following image formats are readable for conversion:

All Sony RAW formats: ARW. Your Sony camera may offer the option of saving ARW files. A ARW file is a digital negative, it isn't processed in-camera and so is as accurate a recording of the scene as possible.

Click 'Start!'. It is that simple to perform a conversion.

Learn about more advanced options

Rename automatically

This option makes it possible for you to rename all your photos to something better in no time.

You can either select one predefined pattern or write one yourself. Everything that you write between the characters % will be interpreted as a tag value. Everything else will be reproduced as is.

Examples:If you write '%name%.%ext%', the %name% tag will be replaced by the original filename.If you write 'holiday%counter%.%ext%', the filenames will look like 'holiday1.jpg', 'holiday2.jpg', ...

There is a long list of possible tag to choose from that will take a value if the photo contains metadata about it. The possibilities are endless.

Organize in sub-folders automatically

This option makes it possible for you to group your photos into relevant subfolders automatically. The pattern is defined in pretty much the same way as for renaming, but the character / will stand as a directory separator to introduce a new sub-folder.

Examples:If you write %y%, the photos will be grouped in the subfolders '2008', '2007', ... If you write %y%%m%, the photos will be grouped in the subfolders '200810', '200709', ...

There is a long list of possible tag to choose from that will take a value if the photo contains metadata about it. The possibilities are endless.

RAW processing

The RAW processing panel will let you develop your digital negatives in batch. You can choose a brightness level. If it is inferior to 1, your photos will be darker and if it is superior to 1 they will be brighter.

The white balance gives a particular color temperature to your photos. It refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. You can choose to select the white balanced stored in your digital camera or let it be automatically optimized.

You can choose to use denoising. A stronger denoising level will have stronger effect but might remove interesting details.

For all these settings you can use the quality preview in order to check the result of your choice of parameters.

Create PDF photo albums

Creating a photo album in PDF is a very simple way to share your photos with your friends and family. The PDF format is ideal for internet and for printing. Configure page size and position/number of images per page and you will be delighted by the result.

Effects

Apply effects in batch to your images. Adjust contrast, brightness or convert your photos in black&white. You can place a visible watermark to protect your photos from theft or apply filters such as: blur, sharpen or median denoising. You change the parameters and the image preview will let you visualize your changes dynamically.